starworlds: Astroweather -- Mercury Stationary Direct

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Astroweather -- Mercury Stationary Direct

Mercury will go stationary direct this evening at 11:21 pm pst. This last retrograde cycle of the year began on December 10, 2010 in a fire sign and will end in a water sign. Mercury stations direct at 25 degrees Scorpio and will return to its previous retrograde station point of 11 degrees Sagittarius on January 17, 2010. During this time it will transit the highly critical Gandanta degrees of 27 Scorpio - 3 Sagittarius between January 3-11, 2011.

Gandanta is traditionally described as an inauspicious position causing misery to the area of influence of the planet, in this case Mercury, the ruler of communication. In Sanskrit Gand means knot, or node, and anta means end. It refers to the juncture between water and fire, in particular last 3 degrees of a water sign, and first three degrees of a fire sign -- at the three distinct junctions of Pisces (Revati)- Aries (Aswini), Cancer (Ashlesha)- Leo (Magha), and Scorpio (Jyeshta)- Sagittarius (Mula). The weakest degree or junction is 29 degrees, called sande in Vedic astrology. Mercury will be sande on January 6, 2011. When planets travel through gandanta positions, they take on a special power to unravel knots of karma and move on to the next level. If a planets falls in the last three degrees of water sign, it is completing an old cycle; if it falls in the first three degree of a fire sign is beginning a new cycle. As Mercury rules the nakshatras of the last three degrees of each water sign, it may have more significant power to release the binds of the past than other planets passing through gandanta, or at least speed up the process. Ketu rules the nakshatras of the first degrees of each fire sign. As the primordial creative force, Ketu's energy may trigger chaos at the beginning of a new cycle.

When the fast-moving Mercury does it retrograde dance through gandanta degrees change and transformation concerning Mercurial interests speed up. This quickening may lead to massive releases of information in the form of writing and communication. We certainly witnessed this phenomenon as Wikileaks and its Mercurial leader Julian Assange (Gemini Sun, Venus and Mercury) were scrutinized by the media for the past four weeks. Although he turned himself in to police before Mercury went retrograde, he was initially held for what might be trumped up sexual assault charges without bail. Despite attempts by governments to vilify and suggest that Assange is a terrorist and rapist, plenty of independent media types came to his defense, including director Michael Moore who donated bail money and explained why in an open letter. Assange was finally released on bail on Saturnalia, December 17, 2010; but the question remains, is he a modern media hero or mischievous libertine?

When Mercury was last at 25 degrees Scorpio on November 22, 2010 the big headline was that North Korea had revealed that it was operating a previously undisclosed uranium enrichment plant. The very next day North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire in what many described as the most dramatic confrontations since the Korean War. Although it seemed sudden, tension between the two enemies had been building for a long time. During the week that followed Mercury transited the gandanta degrees and this tension escalated, especially as Pluto conjoined Rahu in Sagittarius. Just as Mercury approached this explosive conjunction of Pluto and Rahu, WikiLeaks released more highly controversial information -- US diplomatic cables that revealed things like China is getting tired of dealing with North Korea's bad behavior. So even though the tension between North and South Korea was at an all time high, the world began to understand that China may have some interest in controlling its naughty child.

Mercury also rules the markets and commerce. During the holiday season initial reports indicated that sales were up significantly. According to the Huffington Post Christmas Even shoppers were setting holiday records. However, all is not as it seems. Bank failures are at an all time high. The intense winter weather patterns may also have an effect on post-Christmas retail as major winter storms shut down the East coast for two days. Once Mercury goes direct we may get a more accurate assessment of the state of the economy.

Mercury also rules travel, and winter storms in both the US and Europe wreaked havoc. Of course some of that intensity was also connected astrologically to the expansive power of Rahu over the full lunar eclipse of December 21, 2010.

As I mentioned in a previous post on Starsyncs, Mercury retrograde cycles may in fact activated the right brain. During this retrograde cycle I felt an incredible download of galactic information that I obsessively described in multiple blog posts. As Mercury stations today, my brain is having difficulty finding the right words, or connecting various abstract thoughts. Where once there was clarity, now there is an approaching fog bank. Perhaps this is the effect of going from fire to water? In 2011 the Mercury retrograde cycles will all begin in fire and transition back to water through gandanta degrees, until the final period which begins and ends in water. Until then we may see these periodic awakenings of the mind and great downloads of information through the coming Mercury retrograde cycles. Keep an eye on the stationary direct periods of Mercury's re-entry through fire. These may be times of great alchemical change.

Namaste!

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Aum saraswateye vidmahe, bramputriye dhi-mahi, tanno sarawati prachodayat

Saraswati is the Goddess of leaming, knowledge, and wisdom. The Sanskrit word sara means "essence" and swa means "self." Thus Saraswati means "the essence of the self." Saraswati is represented in Hindu mythology as the divine consort of Lord Brahma, the Creator of the universe. Since knowledge is necessary for creation, Saraswati symbolizes the creative power of Brahma. Goddess Saraswati is worshipped by all persons interested in knowledge, especially students, teachers, scholars, and scientists.

What is the Difference between Vedic and Western Astrology: 23 Degrees, Nakshatras, and Sidereal

Twenty-three is my quick answer to the question: "what is the difference between Vedic Astrology and Western astrology?" I don't mean to be cryptic, but 23 degrees is literally the difference between the Tropical and Sidereal zodiacs. It is called the Ayanamsha -- in Sanskrit ayana meaning solstice and amsha meaning portion -- and it refers to the difference between Tropical and Sidereal zodiacs.

The zodiac is a ring of constellations often referred to as signs, such as Aquarius, Leo, Scorpio and Taurus. It is a cosmic clock around which our solar systems operates and how astrologers measure cycles of time. Most people do not realize that there are two distinct zodiacs. Vedic astrologers use the Sidereal zodiac and Western astrologers use the Tropical zodiac. The Sidereal zodiac is based on observations of planets lining up against the backdrop of the fixed stars. It is oriented to the center of the galaxy. On the other hand, the Tropical zodiac is based on the relationship between the sun and earth. It is oriented to the equinoxes. In Western astrology the spring equinox sets the beginning of the Tropical zodiac at 1 degree Aries, even though the sun is astronomically traveling in the light fields of Pisces. In other words, it does not correspond to observable position. Vedic astrology is called Jyotisha in Sanskrit, meaning the science of light, and Vedic astrology describes how the light emitted from the stars effects us. When Western astrology was in its early stages, the two zodiacs may have lined up; but over time the two moved apart approximately 50 seconds per year to the current 23 degrees of separation (even that number is debated, but the standard of India, the Lahiri ayanamsha is 23 degrees 10 seconds).

Vedic astrology is considered by scholars to pre-date Western astrology and is the only system that has accounted for the precession of the equinoxes. What is the precession of the equinoxes? The answer to that involves another occurrence of the number 23 (those familiar with the enigma of 23, like LOST and RAW fans, may find this amusing). Because Earth's axis is tilted 23° 27' in its orbit around the sun, its equatorial plane is tilted with respect to the ecliptic plane, the plane created by Earth's orbit. These two intersecting planes create an intersecting line called the vernal axis that occurs on the first day of spring, or Vernal equinox. As the Earth spins on its axis, its axis wobbles (precesses 50.3 seconds of arc per year or 1 degree every 71.6 years) very slowly over a period of about 24,000 to 26,000 years. As this occurs, the pole of the Earth inscribes an arc in the heavens called the precessional arc. The Earth's pole aligns with different stars throughout the precessional period. The current pole star is Polaris. Approximately 13,000 year ago it was Vega, one of my favorite stars. Earth's precessional cycle is also referred to as Earth's Great Year in the alchemical tradition, World Ages, or Yugas in the Vedas. David Frawley describes it a one year in the life of humanity.

In Vedic astrology there is a line of thought that suggests this 24,000-26,000 cycle (and even wobble of the earth itself) maybe be generated by a grand cycle of our sun with a companion dark star. Modern astronomy is studying this possibility as well. The ancient Vedic seers divided up the cycle into four world ages: the Satya(Truth or Golden), Treta (Third or Silver), Dwapara (Third or Bronze) and Kali (first or Iron) Ages. Each age describes a stage of awareness for mankind in which consciousness ascends, descends, and ascends in unending cycles perhaps due to the influence of this yet to be discovered companion star. Although New Age philosophers have described humanity as entering the Age of Aquarius, astronomically speaking that will not happen for approximately 300-400 years.

According to Vedic thought, the cycles of ascending and descending consciousness are connected not only to our rotation around a companion star, but also our cycle around the galactic center. According to David Frawley, "Vedic astrology orients the zodiac to the galactic center, or the central galactic sun, whose influence comes to us through fixed stars of the constellation Sagittarius." The galactic center is like our cosmic belly button -- it is sometimes called Vishnunabhi, or the navel of Vishnu-- the point from which our galaxy grew and expanded. Many ancient cultures studied and recorded their observations about this area of the night sky, including the Mayans whose calendar marks an astronomical event of our winter solstice aligning with the galactic center in 2012. It's like the earth's pole or antenna will be aligned and open to receive message from the source itself. [H]ohm is calling.

One of the most brilliant developments of the ancient Vedic seers was to further divide the zodiac into more identifiable parts. They did this by creating the Nakshatra system. In Sanskrit Nakshatra means lunar mansion. As the moon travels through the entire zodiac in 27-28 days, the ancient seers ascribed a Nakshatra for each day simplifying its location. Although too vast a subject to go into in this post, it is interesting to point out that the name for the Nakstratra that marks the galactic center is Mula, meaning root or source.

Another difference between Western and Vedic astrology is the modern use of non-observable planets and asteroids. As a Neo-Vedic astrologer I do consider some of the outer planets when I look at a chart, but I tend to be more interested in the fixed stars and Nakshatras. I marvel at how Western astrologers bring in new astronomical discoveries to their chart interpretations. Basically I see Western charts as a map of the same terrain as a Vedic chart, but indicating different types or levels of information. It's like comparing a topological map with a road map. I don't need to know the difference of elevation between Broadway and 3rd Avenue, but I might like to know the street number of Benaroya Hall. It all depends on what type of information one is seeking. Vedic astrologers come from a tradition and philosophy that focuses on the four aims of life: dharma (purpose), arthra (attainment), kama (desire),and the most important moksha (liberation). Western astrology is enriched by many diverse traditions and the information gleaned from it may be quite extensive and more suited for the modern mind. But for me, I've always been drawn to the stars in the night sky and have felt them speak to me in the language of light. And as Jyotisha is the science of light, it is the tool and filter I use to translate this information.

For a good video overview on precession click here.